


i can change (i can prove to you that i can change)

by Anonymous



Category: The Politician (TV 2019)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, I Blame Tumblr, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Infinity Jackson Has A Good Time, Macarons, Male-Female Friendship, POV Outsider, Restaurants, That's not a tag but, i will cry, if anyone has links to gifsets of the musical rehearsals, is - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2020-11-22 15:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20876462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Having a multi-million dollar book deal is pretty nice. So is having friends- real friends, too. Infinity Jackson writes her first novel, makes a new friend, and lives her life.





	i can change (i can prove to you that i can change)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Infinity has lunch with Payton Hobart, and notices several things, that are not limited to his laugh, the live band's failure to set up in good time, and the fact that the table cloth is checkered. 
> 
> mus: them dirty bones - mike waters

* * *

“High school was crazy. I called Skye the other day and we ended up talking about you- not in a bad way, just that she’d tried to poison you at one point.”  
  
Payton leans back into his chair. “It was pretty recent history, actually.” He’s smiling though.  
  
Infinity stabs a piece of pasta. “She said that too. It feels so strange to think about it and everything that happened, and then realized that it was only a few years ago.”  
  
“A year and some,” Payton corrects. “Years implies more than three at least.”  
  
She scrapes at the creamy white sauce on her plate, pushing it towards the center and closer to the pasta. “Mhmm. This is a nice restaurant.”  
  
Payton glances at the building they’re in.  
  
Smiling servers walk past checker clothed tables and a couple stares into each other's eyes on the other side of the room. It’s a cloudy day outside, but Infinity knows that on a bright day, light streams in from the skylights and turns everything softer in its beams. She’d searched up the restaurant after hanging up on Payton, and spent a few minutes flicking through photos. It looks almost the same as it did on her laptop. The live band is setting up in the corner, although by the looks of it it’ll take a while.  
  
“How’s your book deal going?”  
  
Infinity grins. Her mouth feels like it’s going to rip itself in half soon if she does it every time someone brings up the subject, but she can’t help it.  
  
“My agent thinks that given the high demand and popularity of memoirs right now, we can negotiate to a multi-million dollar deal.”  
  
Payton taps his fingers idly against the checkered tablecloth, still nodding. There’s an unfocused look in his eyes now. He’s staring at a point above her shoulder. Infinity takes a deep breath and wills herself not to look back.  
  
She looks back. The same street is still outside, a dense flow of people walking past and into storefronts. A couple walks in and out of a floral bar in the time it takes for her to finally speak.  
  
“What are you looking at? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think the future of Floral Bar couple’s relationship is that interesting.” Payton’s shoulders stiffen up before he visibly forces them to relax.  
  
“I thought I saw someone I recognised.”  
  
Infinity nods. “That happens. The other day I was walking past a cafe and I thought I saw Astrid Sloan arguing with a customer.”  
  
“Astrid? Working in a cafe?” Whatever it is, her comment seems to have knocked Payton out of whatever moment he was in. There’s something subdued about him now though.  
  
“I know right? It was probably the hairstyle- that and the fact that they had this expression on their face, that reminded me of her. I was late for a meeting with my agent though, so I didn’t stare too long.”  
  
“That poor cashier.”  
  
“They were noticed by a future multi-million dollar author. I don’t think that’s anything befitting a ‘that poor cashier’.”  
  
Payton laughs. One of the things that Infinity’s noticed about all the ways that Payton has changed, is his laugh. It’s not the biggest thing or the only thing, but it is the one that she keeps noticing.  
  
“I like your laugh,” she tells him. “It’s okay, but it’s more real than the one you used to do to sound relatable.”  
  
“Was it that transparent?”  
  
“I don’t know. You were kind of fake, but I’m not sure if it was a me thing or an everyone thing that made me pick up on it immediately.”  
  
Someone coughs lightly. Infinity looks up. The server is back, and this time they’re holding a plate-  
  
“Did you order this?” Payton looks sheepish almost. It’s not an expression that suits him, and Infinity resolves to tell him to never do it again.  
  
“Maybe? I wanted to do something since I heard about your book deal-”  
  
“Just eat a macaroon,” she tells him. “You don’t need to justify everything you do.” Infinity picks up a green macaroon and sets it on his plate. It’s the same colour as his jacket, and a burst of satisfaction floods her at the thought. The soft pink shell of her own macaron cracks the moment it enters her mouth. A sigh escaped her.  
  
“I love macarons,” she tells Payton. “If I’m ever elected, I’ll make it legal to get married to your favorite food. That would be a cool way of turning down people though.” She flicks her left wrist, splaying out her fingers as if showing off an invisible ring. “Sorry, but my partner satisfies and brings more joy to my life than you ever will. My partner? This plate of macarons.”  
  
Payton chokes on his macaron, hand rising to his throat as he splutters. Infinity pushes a glass of water towards him. “Are you okay?”  
  
His shoulders are shaking. “If writing doesn’t pan out, I hope you know you have a promising future in stand up comedy.”  
  
The family a few tables away are shooting them weird looks now. Infinity smiles at them, and the daughter smiles back before her mother hushes her.  
  
“Arghh. I just remembered that if this goes through I have to actually write the memoir.”  
  
“You can always hire a ghostwriter.”  
  
“That’s what my agent said when I told them that I had no idea if I could write that many pages. I mean, English wasn’t my strongest subject in high school, but still. I have this feeling, and it’s a little sentimental and sappy I know, that this is a story that I need to tell myself.” Infinity twists the checkered cloth absentmindedly. “I know that it’ll be hard, and I’ll hate it, but that it’ll be the right decision at the end of the day. And that it might help other people- my therapist said that, and I think she might be right.”  
  
When she looks back at Payton, he looks moved enough to cry. Maybe not full-on ugly sobs like that day a few years ago, but at least a few symbolic tears. “That was deep,” he says finally. His voice is a little choked, but Infinity doesn’t bring it up. She thinks her eyes might be a little watery too, but neither of them will bring it up so it doesn’t matter.  
  
“I might put it in the afterword. You're in the acknowledgments, by the way. I keep forgetting to tell you- if you don’t want to be in my very short but emotional acknowledgments just tell me.”  
  
Payton dabs at his eyes with a paper handkerchief embossed with the restaurant’s logo. “Does it say ‘Thanks to Payton who ruined my life but also kind of saved it in an asshole way?’ Because if it does, you’d be right.”  
  
She hits him on the arm lightly. “Nothing like that, I promise. Currently, it looks more like ‘To Payton and Skye, for being the best unlikely friends I could’ve ever had’.”  
  
He elbows her back. “I don’t think that counts if we’re your only friends.”  
  
Infinity glances under the table. And then she kicks him in the shins but gently. The ensuing wince from Payton is worth it. “I can always put, ‘To Payton, the worst and most jerk faced friend I’ve ever had. And also to Skye the bestest unlikely friend I could’ve ever had’.”  
  
“Please don’t.”  
  
A microphone squeal rings through the restaurant. The live band in the corner looks sheepish, but the guitarist looks triumphant if their fist pump is saying anything.  
  
“The live bands set up,” she says.  
  
Payton hits his head on the table. “If they start playing country we’re leaving.”  
  
She smiles. “I thought this was a ‘high end and prestigious’ restaurant?”  
  
A guitar strum interrupts anything that he has to say back. Infinity perks up, back straightening visibly. “Anyway, this is a good song. You should listen.”  
  
“I have to do something-”  
  
“In two hours. You haven’t even touched your pasta. Eat the macaron, Payton.”  
  
Payton eats the macaron. The guitar increases its volume, and the lead singer starts to sing. 

* * *

> _And I've made friends with arms wide open_  
I've been broke and I've been broken  
I've found love and all that goes with it  
I don't know how but I did
> 
> __  
I've been happy  
I've been hurtin'  

> 
> _I'll stay settled here I'm certain  
_
> 
> _Find my stride before I'm thirty  
This is where my bones get, bones get dirty  
This is where my bones get, bones get dirty_
> 
> _\- _Them Dirty Bones [Mike Waters]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _We were inside the train car when I started to cry. You were crying too,___  
_smiling and crying in a way that made me_  
_even more hysterical._  
__  
\- richard siken [crush]
> 
> __  
__  
_  
_@froggy-iced-tea on tumblr__  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> raise your hand if you were destroyed by the politician, but that infinity and payton being friends who sing in musicals together made you feel a little bit better. until everything went to hell again.


End file.
